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A SERMON 



DELIVKRED ON THE DAY OF 



NATIONAL HUMILIATION, FASTING AND PRAYER, 



IN 



»2-A <^kf^>..t^..? 



M^Uf$ Aianuk liltijtww, 



*•-• 



January 4, 1861, 



BY THE 



REV. GEORGE D. CUMMIiNS, D. D. 

RECTOR. 



iltj gifrian « tnt^t ivmw (Sort U titc g^m^ilran. 




DELIVERED ON THE DAY OP 



NATIONAL HUMILIATION, FASTING AND PRAYER, 



IN 



January 4, 1861, 



BY THE 



REV. GEORGE D. CUMMINS, D. D. 



RECTOR, 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST 



« » » • » 



BALTIMOKE: 

PRINTED BY JOHN D. TOY 

1861. 



%r • ^» ^ ' 9 



«■' ) 



« • » 









Ibcehango 
0iihr. of Mid). 



S E R M N . 



Isaiah, Ixv. 8. 
'"Thus saith thk Lord, as the new wine is found in the cjaistek, 

AND ONE saith, ' DESTROY IT NOT, FOR A BLESSING IS IN IT,' SO WILL 
r DO FOR MY servants' SAKES THAT I MAY NOT DESTROY THEM ALL." 

We are assembled to day in the House of God under 
circumstances most solemn and affecting to every 
Christian heart, and at a period of our national history 
fraught with imminent peril. The Chief Magistrate 
of a great nation has called its people to keep this 
day holy by humiliation, fasting and prayer before 
God, that "His omnipotent arm may save us from the 
awful effects of our own crimes and follies." 

If an inhabitant of some other planet, or some dis- 
tant region of the globe, could be present among us 
to-day for the first time, he might ask, with unfeigned 
surprise, whence arises the need of this solemnity, and 
what is the fearful peril which casts its dark shadow 
before it over the land, like an eclipse of the sun at 
noonday ? Is some foreign invader off the coasts of 
the land, with an overwhelming force, threatening to 
burn your cities, desolate the country, and subject it 
anew to the yoke of foreign tyranny? or is the noi- 
some pestilence abroad on the wings of the wind, 
making the whole land a Baca, or vale of weeping 



over its ravages, and have ye met to implore God to 
arrest the destroying angel ? Nay, not these are the 
perils from which we seek relief by prayer and peni- 
tence; but an evil which we would gladly exchange 
for the pestilence from God or invasion from a foreign 
foe. Willingly would we now accept David's choice, 
when God gave to him liberty to elect one of three 
fearful modes of Divine punishment, war, pestilence 
or famine, and say, with the King of Israel, "Let us 
fall into the hand of the Lord, and not into the hands 
of man." 

No — we should have to reply to the visitor from 
some other sphere — we are not trembling before the 
rapid approach of a foreign foe, or pestilence, or 
famine; but this is our peril. The people of this 
once happy and heaven-blessed land, are no longer an 
united people in heart and brotherly love and gener- 
ous sympathy ; but, though of one blood, of one race, 
of one language, of one literature, of one religion, of 
one inheritance in the past, and possessing one hope 
for the future, are so inflamed by sectional hatred and 
jealousy as to be almost ready to plunge into all the 
horrors of civil and internecine war ; and having found 
no hope of deliverance from men, from statesmen and 
men of policy, we now turn to God and ask Him to 
turn the hearts of men to peace and conciliation, and 
to save us from anarchy and ruin. 

As an ambassador of Him whose birth was hailed 
by angels as bringing "peace on earth and good will 
towards men" and whose sublime title is "Prince of 
Peace," it is my part to-day, not only in solemn 



prayers aud litanies, but from the jDulpit, "to labor for 
peace;" and a single word which might increase strife 
would be sadly out of place at such a time and in 
such a service. Xor do I design to utter one such 
word. But there does seem to be a very special 
appropriateness in occupying this hour, in taking a 
Ghristian view of the great question which underlies 
the present crisis in our national affairs, and of our 
conscientious obligations arising out of it. 

It cannot be denied by any that the existence of 
one element in our national life, is that out of which 
has arisen all our troubles ; that the presence in our 
midst, of the African race, numbering now one-sixth 
of the population, and tor the most part in a state of 
involuntary servitude, is the causa causans, which pre- 
judice and passion have fed upon until we awaken to 
see a yawning gulf of destruction before us, from 
which only an Omnipotent Arm can save us. Were it 
not for the intermixture of the two races, the Anglo- 
American and the African, the presence of two civili- 
zations, we can scarcely imagine any serious cause of 
danger arising to threaten the perpetuity of this 
nation, unless it should spring from the vices ever 
following in the train of luxury and inflated pros- 
perity. But this country is divided geographically 
between two sections, marked by two diverse and yet 
not necessarily antagonistic social systems; fifteen of 
the thirty-three States of the Confederacy being States 
where African slavery is recognized and established 
by law. 

Now, as to the. political aspect of the slavery ques- 
tion, T do not propose to-day to utter a word. It is 



6 

the glory of the Protestant Episcopal Church in this 
land that her ministers and her bishops, her Ecclesias- 
tical Councils, both State and National, have ever kept 
aloof from intermeddling with this vexed question. 
Though existing in every State of the Confederacy, 
from Maine to Texas, and from the Atlantic to the 
Pacitic, her ministers, with scarce an exception, have 
deemed it a subject not lying within their province to 
settle; and her representatives from every section 
have met in General Convention for seventy-five years, 
from the first session in New York in 1785, under the 
patriarchal Bishop White, to the last in Richmond in 
1859; and in all these not a word on this subject of 
national jDolitics has been heard to interrupt the flow 
of harmony and brotherly love. From this true posi- 
tion of a teacher of religion and a guide in spiritual 
matters alone, it is not my purpose to depart. And if 
the Union of these States must be shattered by tlie 
agitation of this question, the future historian of these 
times, shall not point to the Protestant Episcopal 
Church, as having a part of the guilt lying at her 
door. 

I shall, therefore, not enter into a discussion whether 
African slavery be an advantage or a disadvantage to 
the well-being of a State — whether certain conditions 
of climate and soil and culture render it necessary or 
not — or whether the Constitution protects or prohibits 
it in the national territories. Upon all these questions 
I have the right to form and hold an opinion, as a 
private citizen of the State and Nation, but no right 
to bring them into this holy place and promulge them 



to you. But there is a moral and reJujioits phase of 
the question of African slavery, as it exists among us, 
which is strictly within my province to discuss. And 
it is this aspect of the subject which has reached such 
a complexion, that every conscientious Christian living 
where domestic slavery exists, is called upon to answer 
in the light of his duty to God for his position towards 
it, and his responsibilities arising out of it. 

For thirty years past a persistent, unwearied and 
cumulative effort has been made to train the mind of 
one great section of our country, and that the largest 
and strongest, to regard slavery and slaveholding 
under all circumstances as a moral wrong, a wrong 
against God and man, a violation of His will and 
word, and a crime against humanity ; and of course a 
sin which excludes all who have a part in it from the 
kingdom of grace here, and the kingdom of heaven 
hereafter. By the press, secular and religious, by books 
and tracts without number, by the writings of nove- 
lists, by the teachings of schools and colleges, by denun- 
ciations from the pulpit and lecture room, by agita- 
tions in ecclesiastical conferences, synods and assem- 
blies ; by all these agencies multiplied a thousand fold 
and repeated through the life-time of a generation, 
the result has been reached; and a majority of the 
citizens of one great section of the country, where 
slaveholding does not exist, have been brought to the 
conviction that their brethren of the other section are 
guilty in this thing of a crime against their fellow 
men and a sin against their God. This deep feeling 
has extended into other lands, where, rather we might 



8 

say, it had its origin, and Protestant England and 
Scotland, and Catholie France and Ireland, have united 
in our condemnation. 

Turning our gaze to that section of our land 
visited with such severe condemnation, — what do we 
behold ? A moral waste ? A barren wilderness as to 
its religious character? Communities given over to 
the powers of darkness, and not a ray of holy light to 
illumine the blackness? Nay, the Church of Christ, 
existing in all its integrity and fulness of spiritual 
life; powerful and vigorous Churches; ministers of 
Christ in every quarter, and numbered by thousands ; 
communicants at the altars of the Churches, numbered 
by hundreds of thousands; holy men and women of 
faith and prayer, proving the reality of religion in 
lives consecrated to self-sacrifice and self-denying 
Christian toil ; a type of piety unsurpassed for excel- 
lence and simplicity and purity in any age or nation 
of the globe; benevolent agencies in active exercise 
for diffusing the gospel throughout the world and 
among the spiritually-destitute at home; missionary 
societies sending forth evangelists to India and China 
and Burmah and Africa ; philanthropic societies minis- 
tering to the poor, the sick and the prisoner ; Howard 
associations, not less distinguished for heroic daring 
amidst the pestilence than the famous Florentine 
Brothers of Mercy; the Gospel preached as faithfully 
as ever proclaimed by St. Paul, by Christ's true and 
faithful servants; souls daily converted and added to 
the Church ; revivals of religion, the fruit of the Holy 
Spirit making the Gospel, the power of God, unto 



9 

salvation; learaed Divines devoting their lives to the 
study of the sacred Scriptures ; public teachers of 
morals in schools and colleges ; seminaries for training 
youth for the Gfospel ministry — in a word, God's peo- 
ple, acknowledging His word as their guide, claiming 
His Holy Spirit as their teacher, owning Christ to be 
their model and great Exemplar. 

I can speak more especially for the Church of which 
I am an humble minister; that in this section where 
domestic slavery exists, there are well-nigh fifty thou- 
sand communicants, served by nearly seven hundred 
clergymen and presided over by sixteen bishops, many 
of whom would have adorned the Church of Christ in 
any age. And if not for all these, yet surely I may 
not presumptuously claim to speak to-day for the ten 
thousand communicants of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church in this State of Maryland. True, indeed, not 
all of these are themselves holders of slaves, but all 
are included in a like condemnation, if it be a just 
one ; since to live surrounded by a great and flagrant 
moral wrong, and not to be a witness against it and 
to labor for its removal, is to be a sharer in its guilt. 

What then, is the attitude of the conscientious 
Christians of the South towards this great question ? 
I venture to express the opinion that the time has 
come to let all Christendom know what that posture 
is — what answer they have to make at the bar of God 
when charged with upholding a system of iniquity. 1 
would speak then, to-day, in behalf of the Christian 
whose lot has been cast amidst a social system where 
slavery is one of its marked features. I speak not 
2 



10 

only for the Christian slaveholder, for I am not one of 
the number, but also for that large class who have 
been born and reared under its influence. 

Let me state the case of one of these : He is born 
into life in a Southern clime and in a Southern home, 
and almost the first faces with which lie becomes fami- 
liar are the dark faces of another race than the one 
which gave him birth. The first guardian and nurse 
of his infancy is an African ; the earliest playmates of 
his childhood are the children of this race ; he grows 
to manhood surrounded by their faces now become 
familiar, and learns to regard them as a part of the 
household of his parents. Now he comprehends their 
position, that they are in a state of servitude to the 
superior race ; that they are the descendants of heath- 
ens and savages who were brought from their distant 
homes in Africa, perhaps an hundred years ago. Soon 
he finds that he must take upon him the personal 
responsibility of being the master of such, and while 
receiving the benefit of their labor to provide for 
their well-being, and the well-being of their children. 
Seeking honestly to comprehend all the duties and 
responsibilities of his relation, he sets himself to ascer- 
tain all the truth concerning it. And the very first 
step he reaches is one too patent to be overlooked by 
any, and that is this : 

I. Tliat lie is 7iof responsible for ilia presence of fids 
race around Mm, nor for its condition of serritiah — nor 
was his father any more responsible for it; both re- 
ceived it as an inlieritance, whether for good or evil: 
still an inheritance he cannot decline, a burden he 



11 

cannot shrink from. He tries to trace back this institu- 
tion to its source, but finds it coeval with the existence 
of the nation, and that at the time of the formation of 
the Confederacy, slavery existed in all but one of the 
thirteen States of the Union. Thus he finds it to have 
been a bequest from the mother country, Great Bri- 
tain ; and looking into its history there, he traces its 
existence to the very earliest periods of Saxon history ; 
and still extending and widening his view, he perceives 
it pervading all the great historic nations, Italy, 
Greece, the. Eastern kingdoms, and the chosen people 
of God, even up to the time of the patriarchs. Still, 
tliis antiquity of slavery would not of itself satisfy 
his mind concerning his duty towards it, nor of itself 
justify it, for error and wrong may be hoary with age, 
as well as truth and right. 

II. Another step then is needed, — to ascertaifi God^s 
will concerning it, and a Ghristian^^- duty towards the 
race in bondage, in the light of the teachings of the Word 
of God. The entire argument concerning the teach- 
ing of the Bible as to the moral and religious phase of 
slavery is one which might fill a volume far better 
than a page of a sermon; and we must be content 
only to mention its leading points. 

1. The first of these is the attitude which our Blessed 
Lord maintained during His earthly ministry towards 
slavery and slaveholders. When our Saviour appeared 
on the earth, domestic servitude existed, by law, 
throughout the entire Roman Empire, from Britain to 
Parthia, and no part of the immense dominion of the 
Caesars was exempt from it. Slaves were acquired by 



12 

war, by commerce, by inheritance, and even free-born 
Romans could be reduced to slavery, under certain cir- 
cumstances, by the operation of law. In the popula- 
tion of Italy, under Augustus, there were three slaves 
to every free man. The Romans, who were masters of 
Judea, transported their slaves thither, as an indispen- 
sable part of their domestic arrangement. The Divine 
Redeemer, on His missions of mercy, could not fail to 
be brought into contact with the system. And so, 
indeed it proved, for one of His first and most striking 
miracles of mercy was wrought upon a slave of a Ro- 
man centurion, and in answer to the prayer of the mas- 
ter; and it was of this Roman slaveholder that Jesus 
said, "I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." 
The silence of Jesus with reference to the moral aspect 
of slavery is that which is most significant to a Christian 
man in determining his duty towards it. He did not 
shrink from the most severe denunciations of the fla- 
grant and crying sms of the men of his time for fear of 
personal injury to himself. Let any one who would be 
convinced of this read the 23d chapter of St. Mat- 
thew's gospel, and hear the stern and overwhelming 
rebukes which fell from the lips of Christ against the 
prevailing sins of the people. Hypocrisy, envy, mal- 
ice, uncleanness, extortion, oppressing the poor, 
blood-guiltiness, all are charged home upon the peo- 
ple, until the storm of his indignation falls in one 
thunderbolt of — "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, 
how can ye escape the damnation of hell?"'"^' Yet in 

■*St. Matthew, xxiii. 13 — 33. 



13 

all the list of woes, there is none pronounced against 
slaveholding or the slaveholder. 

2. The next ]3oint in the Scripture argument is the 
attitude of the apostles of Christ towards the same 
system. These inspired and holy men went forth at 
the command of their master to preach the gospel and 
lay the foundations of His church. One of them espe- 
cially, St. Paul, traveled through a great portion of 
the Roman Empire, every where coming into direct 
and close contact with slavery. Yet in all his preach- 
ing and in all his epistles to the churches planted by 
him, there is not to be found one testimony against 
the wrong of slavery; not one precept that it is the 
duty of masters to emancipate their slaves, not a word 
of the sinfulness of slavery. All other oflences of man 
against his fellow-man are condemned unsparingly ; 
but this is strangely omitted, if it be the deadly sin it 
is now proclaimed by some. 

But look at the conduct and teachings of St. Paul 
more in detail. In the city of Athens, where he 
preached to the philosophers on Mars Hill, and rea- 
soned with the Stoics and EjDicureans in the market- 
place, three-fourths of the population were slaves : yet 
not a word falls from his lips concerning this chief 
feature of Athenian society in all that memorable dis- 
course. At Corinth, which was for so long a time the 
chief slave mart of Greece, St. Paul resided for eighteen 
months in the exercise of his ministry, and founded a 
church embracing both converted masters and slaves. 
To this church he writes a letter full of inspired coun- 
sels, and among them is this: "Let every man abide 



14 

in the same calling wherein he was called," that is, 
"called" into Christ's kingdom. "Art thou called being 
a servant? — (a slave) — care not for it, but if thou 
mayest be made free use it rather" — that is, if thy 
freedom is offered thee, accept it and enjoy it. 
"Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, abide 
therein with Grod."* At Ephesus, also, where slaves 
were very numerous, St. Paul dwelt two whole years 
"preaching the things concerning the kingdom of 
God." Here, too, these bondmen were brought into 
the liberty of the sons of God and enrolled in His 
church. And writing to them afterward, the apostle 
says, "servants? (slaves) be obedient to them that are 
your masters according to the flesh, with fear and 
trembling, in singleness of heart, as unto Christ; not 
with eye-service as men-pleasers, but as the servants 
of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart ; with 
good-will doing service, as to the Lord and not unto 
men ; knowing that whatsoever good thing any man 
doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord whether 
he be bond or free."f Here slaves are charged to per- 
form their duties of obedience and single-minded ser- 
vice "as unto Christ," as accountable unto God for 
fidelity to their masters. 

The same heaven-taught man, writing to Timothy 
concerning his duties towards the churches over which 
the Holy Ghost had made him overseer, thus defines 
the duties of slaves: ."Let as many servants as are 
under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all 

* 1 Cor. vii. 20—24. f Eph. vi. 5—9. 



15 

honor that the name of God and His doctrine be not 
blasphemed. And they that have believing masters, 
let them not despise them because they are brethren ; 
but rather do them service because they are faithful 
and beloved, partakers of the benefit."* Then follows 
an injunction to Timothy to withdraw himself from 
persons who taught a contrary doctrine. Of a like 
import is his teaching to Titus, the bishop of Crete : 
" Exhort servants (slaves) to be obedient unto their 
own masters, and to please them in all things ; not 
answering again ; not purloining, but shewing all good 
fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of Grod our 
Saviour in all things.''f "Crete was full of slaves from 
the earliest times to which history carries us." 

As to the case of Onesimus, I prefer to quote the 
language of the late Prof. Edwards, of the Andover 
Theological Seminary, one of the first Biblical scholars 
of this century and one of the holiest men who have 
ever adorned the cause of Sacred literature. He says, 
"Onesimus was the slave of Philemon, a Colossian, who 
had been made a Christian through the ministry of Paul. 
He absconded from his master for a reason which is 
not fully explained. In the course of his flight, he met 
with the apostle at Rome, by whom he was converted, 
and ultimately recommended to the favor of his old 
master. St, Paul would, under any circumstances, 
have had no choice, but to send Onesimus to his mas- 
ter ; the detention of a fugitive slave was considered 
the same ofience as theft, and would, no doubt, incur 
liability to prosecution for damages.''^ 

«1 Tim. vi. 1—2. t'l'it'"^- •'• 4 — lo. J Bihiical Repository. Oct. 183:'. 



16 

This, then, is the argument from the New Testament 
concerning slavery as a moral wrong. Every allusion 
to it by inspired apostles recognizes it as a part of the 
social system established by law, and enjoins fidelity in 
the discharge of the duties arising out of it, and no 
where, in a single instance, is it declared to be of itself 
sinful. But there is an indirect sanction of the system, 
perhaps still more marked. The inspired writers of 
the New Testament do condemn the abuses of the rela- 
tion between master and slave, do denounce the evils 
which were found existing along with it in their day. 
These abuses or evils were indeed enormous among the 
Greeks and Romans. In both nations the life of the 
slave was absolutely in the power of the master. At 
Athens oftentimes cruel and barbarous punishments 
were inflicted upon them, sometimes the torture of the 
wheel. The Romans punished gross offences among 
them by crucifixion. In Sparta they were liable to 
the horrible cryptia or ambuscade, when the Spartan 
youth were encouraged by their governors to fall upon 
the Helots at night, or in unfrequented places, and 
murder them, that these youths might be better fitted 
for the stern and cruel scenes of war. It is an insult 
to Christianity, whose spirit is one of infinite mercy 
and love, to ask the question whether it approved or 
eveu tolerated such evils ? The soul of every Chris- 
tian revolts against all cruelty, all injustice, all oppres- 
sion in every relation of life. Jesus did condemn all 
the evils which existed along with slavery, when he 
said, " Blessed are the merciful.'' " Whatsoever ye 
would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to 



17 

them," The golden rule, which bade the slaveholder 
treat the bondman with the same justice and kindness 
with which he would wish to be treated if their rela- 
tions were reversed. 

And the apostles of Jesus likewise did not hesitate 
to warn Christian masters against these evils, and to 
guard them from these abuses. "And ye masters!" 
says St. Paul to the Ephesians, "forbear threatening, 
knowing that your master also is in heaven ; neither 
is there respect of persons with Him. " Ephesians, v. 9. 
To the Colossians he writes, "masters! give unto your 
servants (slaves) that which is just and equal, knowing 
that ye also have a master in heaven:" Col. iv. 1. 
" That this injunction cannot mean the legal enfran- 
chisement of the slave is clear," says Prof Edwards, 
"for why, in that case, were any directions given to 
the slaves, if the relation was not to continue."* And 
the same apostle denounces "men-stealers," or those 
who unlawfully seduced freemen to slavery as on a 
par with murderers. f 

The argument to be drawn from these facts is, that 
inasmuch as the apostles of our Lord did condemn the 
abuses which were connected with slavery, and did 
prescribe the duties of both masters and slaves; that 
they did indirectly recognize the system as not for- 
bidden by the word or will of God, and not of itself 
involving moral wrong, and their practice everywhere 
was in keeping with this view; for in every place 
where the Church was planted, slaveholders were 

* Bibliciil Repository. Oe't. 1835. f I Timothy, i. 10. 



18 

admitted into its fellowship without hesitation. Phile- 
mon, of Colosse, was but one of the pious slave- 
holders who was a "brother dearly beloved and fellow 
laborer,"* to St. Paul. 

That the Gospel of Christ did much to ameliorate 
the condition of the slave, and remove the evils of 
slavery, we joyfully acknowledge. It proclaimed with 
trumpet tongue, charity, forgiveness, kindness and 
love. It elevated the worth of the soul of the slave. 
It banished and extirpated the gladiatorial combats 
which were always among the slaves trained for this 
purpose. It taught the master that the slave had a 
common share with him in sin and in redemption ; 
that he was the purchase of a common Redeemer's 
blood; and that hi Christ there was neither bond nor 
free. But it never, directly or indirectly, by precept 
or practice, taught that slaveholding was a sin against 
God and a crime against man. 

Nor did slavery cease to exist and prevail in the 
primitive church of the first three centuries — the days 
of its very highest purity, and when refined by the 
fires of martyrdom. Ignatius, the bishop of Antioch, 
who was torn to pieces by the lions in the Coliseum 
at Rome, writing to Polycarp, bishop of Smyrnii, who, 
for his confession of Christ, was burned at the stake, 
says — "Overlook not the men and maid servants, 
neither let them be puffed up ; but rather let them be 
more subject to the glory of God, that they may 
obtain from Him a better freedom. Let them not 

* PliiUiiiou, i. J, 



19 

desire to be set free at the public cost that they be 
not slaves to their own lusts. '"^ But the early Church 
pursued the same course towards the institution as the 
apostles did. It did not denounce it, nor seek violently 
to overturn it. It recognized it as established by 
law and permitted by the Providence of God, but 
admitted freely masters and slaves to all its privileges 
and blessings — while at the same time it sought to 
mitigate the evils existing along with it. Slaves, hold- 
ing the true faith, were taken into the service of the 
Church, and ordained to the ministry by the consent 
of their masters, without being emancipated. Chris- 
tian Emperors enacted laws to restrain the power of 
inhuman masters. But the primitive Church rose, 
flourished and triumphed over the Empire and left 
slavery to exist for centuries afterwards. 

By the light of this survey of Scripture, and the 
history of the early Church, a Christian man whose 
lot is cast amidst slavery in this age and nation, is 
enabled to ascertain his duty towards it^ — and that is : 

III, To regard the African race in bondage {and in 
freedom too) as a solemn trust committed to this people 
from God', and that He has given to us the great mission of 
working out His purposes of mercy and Jove towards them.. 
The Anglo-American, the tutelar guardian of the 
African — this is the lofty view to which we now rise. 
It is a study of intense interest to trace the workings 
of G-od's Providence in the mode He has chosen to 
effect His purposes concerning these children of Ham. 

* Epislle of I.'nalius. '■liai'. 2. 



20 

He has linked together, by a counsel of infinite wisdom, 
the destiny of two races, more diverse from each 
other than any two upon the globe. By the silver 
thread of His providence the weakest race on the 
earth has been joined to the strongest, the oldest to 
the newest, the most repulsive barbarism to the high- 
est civilization, the darkest superstition to the bright- 
est and purest Christianity. The feeble African para- 
site has found a prop on which to climb on the noble 
oak of our Western land. 

Other races have at different periods of history 
been brought into close and intimate relations with 
the African race, as the Roman and the Castilian, but 
not to these has Grod entrusted this great work. To 
the Anglo-Saxon and the American has He reserved 
the high honor. See already how He is leading them 
on in the accomplishing of this work. 

1 . In abolishing the slave-trade, the fruitful source 
of every evil on the Continent of Africa. 

2. In stimulating explorations throughout the land 
heretofore a terra incognita, thus throwing open to 
Christianity and civilization a vast area peopled by 
savage and degraded tribes. 

3. Next, by the missionary enterprise which has 
already translated the Bible into five dialects and 
preached the Grospel to five millions of its people. 

4. Above all, God has brought these people to our 
doors and placed them in our homes, and said to us 
by His Providence, "take this child and nurse it for 
me, and I will give thee wages." It is a sublime 
trust, a stupendous work, worthy of the genius of this 



21 

Christian nation, to train, to discipline a race, to pre- 
pare them to work out the destiny of a continent of 
one hundred and fifty millions of the same race. We 
believe this to be the design of God, in the presence 
and condition of the African in this land. And it is 
for us to decide whether we will fulfil this high 
mission, or fail ignominiously under it. We cannot 
decline the trust; it is ours by inheritance, and not by 
our seeking, We cannot escape from its responsi- 
bilities, if we would. But how shall we best fulfil 
that trust? This question involves and determines 
our duty towards the Africans in servitude. How 
shall we prove ourselves their truest friends — their 
best guardians? How discharge our duty towards 
them in the light of our duty to the Master whom we 
serve ? Will it be by seeking hastily and violently to 
change their condition, and bid them go forth from 
under our guardianship? As well might we turn from 
our doors our children of tender years and send them 
forth, helpless, into the world, exposed to every evil. 
It has been well and truthfully said, that "it is not 
too much to say that if the South should, at this 
moment, surrender every slave, the wisdom of the 
entire world, united in solemn council, could not solve 
the question of their disposal." But we may add, that 
the Providence of God will solve it, in His own time, 
if we do not rashly thwart His plans, by our short- 
sighted schemes. It may, indeed, be a long time 
before He develops all His purposes towards the Afri- 
can race, and like ancient Israel, He may prolong the 
time of their discipline. But in all His sublime move- 



22 

merits, there is ever the same slow and stately move- 
ment, ever the absence of all haste. It required four 
thousand years to prepare the world for the Advent of 
Christianity; and it may require four thousand more 
to extend its triumphs over the whole earth. This is, 
indeed, a feature of the Divine working most ojoposed 
to human schemes of impatient haste. Many have 
lost all faith, in the final triumph of truth and right, 
because of the slow progress made in a generation or 
a century. Calvin's motto upon his signet-ring was 
the Psalmist's cry, Quousque Domine? "How long, 
Lord ? " But we can well be patient and wait on 
Him, with whom a "thousand years are as one day." 
But the chief part of the question as to our duty 
towards the subject-race among us, is not yet answer- 
ed. What would God have us do for and towards 
them ? I reply : 

1. To acknowledge him as of one blood with our- 
selves, a sharer in a common humanity, a partaker of 
our hopes and fears. 

2. To labor for his salvation, for his conversion from 
a savage and a heathen to a servant of Christ; to 
make him one with us in the heritage of the Church 
of the Redeemer. Who can suppose that if the 
Apostles of our Lord were now among us and in our 
lot, that they would desire to do more ? St. Paul did 
not at Corinth and Colosse, nor did Timothy at Ephe- 
sus, nor did Titus at Crete. 

This great work, the Christians of the South are 
now zealously and earnestly striving to perform. 
Throughout the fifteen slaveholding States of this 



23 

Union, there are men and women of God who feel 
the solemn duty res||[ng upon them to labor for the 
conversion of the slave. Every Christian denomina- 
tion of the Soutli is engaged in this work, each seek- 
ing to surpass the other in holy zeal. In some of the 
Churches, the Africans professing the faith of Christ 
are numbered by tens and even hundreds of thou- 
sands. Sunday Schools for their instruction in the 
doctrines of the Gospel, abound in every part of the 
Southern country, and the Gospel is preachtd to as 
many of the slaves, in proportion to their numhers, as it 
is to any people of any section of this land. It was 
lately proved by a most careful statistical scrutiny, 
that in the chief commercial metropolis of this coun- 
try, out of a population of 800,000 people, only 
200,000 were provided with opportunities for having 
the Gospel preached, while 000,000 could not find a 
place in any House of God, if they so desired. Can 
this be said of the religious privileges of the slaves of 
the South? Far, very far from it; the number of 
these is exceedingly small who do not regularly hear 
the Gospel, or have it within their power to hear it. 
I can speak with certainty of our own branch of 
Christ's Church ; and of that I can testify to-day, that 
in nil our large Southern Dioceses, the Church is suc- 
cessfully at work in the conversion of the African. 
Says the Right Rev. Bishop Green, of Mississippi, in 
his last report to the General Convention of our 
Church: "Never before have so many of the slave 
population been brought within the bosom of the 
Church in this diocese. Never before has this field 



24 

presented such an inviting aspect to the laborer in the 
spiritual harvest. On every hand is observed the 
increasing desire on the part of masters to give unto 
their servants the blessings of the Gospel and the 
Church ; and could we only comply with their pressing 
invitations to preach the Word of Life to our 'Africa 
at home,' the time would soon come when we should 
behold thousands of Ethiopia's sons stretching out 
their hands unto Grod."* 

Says the truly apostolic Bishop Davis, of South 
Carolina, " about fift}^ chapels for the benefit of negroes 
on plantations, are now in use for the worship of God 
and the religious instruction of slaves. Many planters 
employ missionaries or catechists for this purpose ; 
many more would do so, if it were possible to procure 
them. In one parish, there are thirteen chapels for 
negroes supplied with regular services. The number 
of negroes attending the services of the Church is very 
large and increasing annually."t Of Virginia, I can 
speak from a residence of nearly eight years as a 
minister in two of her principal cities. I believe facts 
would bear me out in the statement of my belief, that 
in the State of Virginia, the number of colored church 
members in all the denominations is equal to, if not 
greater than that of the whites. All the Churches of 
that commonwealth are alive to their duty toward the 
slave. All the pious people of God feel most deeply 
their personal share in this obligation, and seek the 



* Journal of General Convention of 1859 — Mississippi. 

■(■ L)o. Do. South Carolina. 



25 

means of discharging it. T}\n wealthy fanner builds 
for the slaves their own chapel, and provides them a spi- 
ritual teacher, IS'ot a Church edifice is erected in town 
or country, but provision is made within its walls for 
the people of color. Flourishing Churches of colored 
people alone exist in every city and the larger towns. 
Sunday s<^'hools for Hdnlts ^nd children are under the 
care of nil the <^.'hur<"h('-. In lliousunds of iiorne.s, on 
every Huriday, masters and r/iistresses assemble a por- 
tion of their servants for religious instruction. And 
this very concern, for the religious welfare of the .slave, 
tends to develop the finest gnj^-es of the Christian 
character. Nothing so powerfully nourishes the Chris- 
tian graces of the parent, hs the responsibilities of his 
relation to the r-hildren whom God h^s given fiiin. 
To a Christian slaveholder, his slaves occupy to him 
a relation scarcely less inferior to th«t of children ; 
they form part of his household, and for their temporal 
and eternal welfare he feels himself responsible to 
God. How profound is this feeling of responsibility, 
I can attest from a personal residence among the pious 
masters of Virginia. I "speak that which 1 know jind 
testify that which 1 have .seen." It was my lot to 
minister at the altur of a Chur^-h wliere, along with 
three hundred whites, fifty slaves knelt by them to 
receive the sacrament of the Lord's supper. I have 
seen the master standing at the chancel of the Church 
to act as sponsor in Vjaptism for a faithful slave 
who came forward to receive the sacred rite. I have 
seen Christian women of the highest refinement 
and social position, sitting down on every Lord'B 
4 



26 

day in the midst of the classes of a Sunday School of 
slaves, to instruct them in the knowledge of salvation. 
I have known the slave girl in consumption to be 
taken into the chamber of her mistress and nursed 
with a care equal to a mother's tenderness, and the 
passage to the grave illumined by the light of Chris- 
tian sympathy and love. And I have seen a congre- 
gation of three thousand slaves presided over by their 
regular pastor, the President of a College, at the close 
of each sermon responding to the catechetical instruc- 
tion concerning the truths preached. 

But it will be said that according to the example of 
the apostles and the- early Christians, our whole duty 
towards slavery is not fulfilled until we do our part to 
correct its abuses and remove the evils attendant upon 
it — and we freely admit this. It is our part and duty 
following in the steps of the apostles, to tell both mas- 
ters and servants of their mutual duties, and to warn 
them against abusing the relation in which they stand 
to each other — to say to the servant " obey your mas- 
ters in singleness of heart as unto the Lord !" — to say 
to the masters, " give unto your servants that which is 
just and equal." And we firmly and earnestly believe 
that there is not an evil connected with slavery as it 
now exists in the Southern States, which in due time 
would not be corrected and removed by the force of 
Christian sentiment, enlightened by the Holy Spirit 
and guided by the Word of God. There in poiver 
enough in the Christianity of the South to grapple with 
and solve all the dirfficulties of this great question, if left 
tmihindered hy interference from without. 



27 

A word to the Christian people of the State of 
Maryland must be added to complete the survey of 
our duty in the position where God's Providence has 
placed us. There is much in your position towards 
the African race which may comfort you amidst the 
perils of the present crisis. You have not been want- 
ing in the effort to discharge your trust, and to per- 
form your duty towards this people. The slaves of 
Maryland share equally with you all the inheritance of 
the Gospel and the Church of Christ. Eighty thousand 
free people of color live within your borders, in thou- 
sands of happy homes, unoppressed by any heavy bur- 
den, wdth schools, churches, and ministers of their own, 
with "none to molest them or make them afraid."* 
And last and not least, you liave planted from among 
these a Christian colony on the shores of Africa, now 
part of a Republic, a brilliant gem on the dark fore- 
head of that continent, and the centre of light arid 
knowledge and religion to millions of its heathen and 
savage tribes. 

Shall all tliw work continued Shall we go forward 
in the strength of God, fulfilling the mission He has 
assigned to us toward the African, and working out 
God's blessed purpose towards him through our 
agency? Shall we bear him on with us to our and 
his final triumph ? or shall we perish with him ? or 
leave him to perish ? There is, to my mind, but one 
thing that will determine these questions — the pre- 
servation OR THE DESTRUCTION OF THE UnION OF THIS 

* Eighteen Churches for colored jieople ministered to by colored men are to iie 
found in this City alone. 



28 

CONFEDERACY. May God in His infinite mercy preserve 
it for us. for our children and our children's children, 
for generations yet unborn. "Let thy work appear 
unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. 
And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us ; 
and establish thou the work of our nands upon us ; 
yea, the work of our hands establish thou it." 



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